Eight people, including seven students and a teacher, were killed on Tuesday after a landslide struck an educational facility in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, according to local officials. The event occurred following several days of heavy monsoon rains that have affected the region.
The landslide took place in the early morning at a school within the Balukhali camp network. Shamsud Douza, the additional refugee relief and repatriation commissioner for Bangladesh, confirmed the fatalities to news agencies. He stated that rescue operations were conducted by emergency services with assistance from Rohingya community volunteers to recover the victims from the mud and debris.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has forecast continued heavy rainfall in the southeastern part of the country, including Cox’s Bazar. Aid organizations have previously identified landslide and flooding risks within the refugee camps, which are among the most densely populated in the world. Many of the temporary shelters are constructed on hilly terrain that has been stripped of vegetation, increasing the instability of the soil during periods of intense rain.
The Cox’s Bazar camps house more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees, the majority of whom fled a military offensive in Myanmar in 2017. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other non-governmental organizations coordinate with the Bangladeshi government to provide essential services in the camps.
In response to the incident, a UNHCR spokesperson said the agency was working with its partners to provide support and counseling to the affected families and the community. Local authorities reported that they are assessing other areas within the camps that may be at high risk for similar events and are considering temporary relocations of residents if necessary.
